Love's Luck
by The Crafty Cracker
Summary: Inoue Orihime is unlucky. And by unlucky it means that not a day passes by without her getting unharmed in any way. What's more, she has a huge crush on Kurosaki Ichigo, the 5th division captain. Now wouldn't that count as unlucky?  Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

**Inoue Orihime is unlucky. And by unlucky it means that not a day passes by without her getting unharmed in any way. As a shinigami healer of the 4****th**** division, she should be caring for lives, but she seems to be in the hospital more often than the most veteran shinigamis. Inoue Orihime also has a crush on the 5****th**** division captain, Kurosaki Ichigo. Now wouldn't that count as unlucky?**

**A/N: So, I'm thinking of something light-hearted. My story summary isn't exactly how the story is going to be, and I'm sure you clearly have no idea what this is all about. Please read to find out. I hope you will find it good.**

**Love's Luck**

**A Kurosaki Ichigo x Inoue Orihime fan fiction**

**Rated M**

Chapter One

Strange Sightings

"Fufumfumfufuuu~~" a young woman hummed, walking gaily along the corridors of Seiretei Institute. She was in her final year of study and her grades had been quite well, especially in Kidou and the Healing Arts, but Inoue Orihime knew that was far from excellent. She hoped she could still be the shinigami she aspired to be.

"Woooah, isn't that Inoue-senpai?" a robust-looking student said, whispering to his blonde companion.

"Yes," he murmured in reply. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"Like an idol."

"But I heard she's really a ditz and a klutz."

"Who cares? A woman only needs her looks to bring us men down. She doesn't need to be bright and smooth."

Orihime pretended not to hear, but she did. This was the kind of remarks she would get whenever she had her back turned. She was the envy of many when it came to looks, but she was popular for the nickname 'Unlucky Princess.'

Unlucky Princess – this was because Orihime could not survive a day without getting into some sort of mishap. She always found her way into trouble and most of the instructors would simply stay away from her during practical exams. She had a lot of potential, but she always posed a threat to others, more importantly, to herself.

Orihime blinked the tears away, quickly proceeding to the graduating class' girls' dormitories. She wanted to see her best friends so badly. Arisawa Tatsuki and Kuchiki Rukia were her aides whenever she would hear snide comments. She hated to admit it, but she was dependent on her friends. They were the only ones she had.

Arisawa Tatsuki, unlike her, was an excellent student. Although she had a little problem in kidou, her strength in every other area earned her great praise from the teachers. She was strong-willed and had a definite sense of leadership around her. Because of this, she already had a reserved spot in the 11th division of the Gotei 13.

Kuchiki Rukia was an equally excellent student. Though she was a bit lacking in the kendo department, she was the best when it came to kidou, even better than Orihime. She was also the younger sister of the most popular captain in all of Soul Society, Kuchiki Byakuya. Not to mention that she belonged to the richest and most powerful noble clan, the Kuchiki family. It is therefore an established fact that Rukia also had a reserved position in the Gotei 13.

Which left Orihime. She was the darling of the three, but also had the least amount of spiritual energy. She was always soft-spoken and gentle. She resented fights and would not enter one even though her life depended on it. So it came as a surprise to her two friends, who already knew her since they were children, that she wanted to become a shinigami.

Tatsuki often wondered if Orihime only wanted to become a reaper because her two friends were going to the academy, which left her alone. They did not belittle Orihime's reiatsu, for she knew that she was also capable of becoming a shinigami, but it was just not in her nature to become one.

Orihime knew this and would always think that her best shot would be in the 4th division – the relief and medicinal squad of Soul Society. There was where she belonged. She wanted to heal and help out rather than to harm and kill.

BAM!

Before she knew it, books and paper were flying everywhere, momentarily blocking her vision. Something cold ran over the top half of her uniform and she caught a glimpse of nasty black ink dripping all over the once pristine white cloth. Disoriented, she pushed the thick book out of her eyes and dusted off the ink-infested scrolls. When she finally found out who the walking wall was, she gaped.

It was Kurosaki Ichigo.

_Everyone _knew who Kurosaki Ichigo was. Student extraordinaire, excelling in all Shinigami requisites – kidou, shunpo, hakuda and kendo. Before he even entered the academy, he already knew his zanpakutou's name, thus able to release his shikai. During their third year, he attained Bankai. Because of his strength, he had been among the selected few who fought in the prestigious and historical Winter War where three traitorous shingami captains threatened to put the entire world in chaos. Ichigo had been the one to defeat Aizen Sousuke, a feat in which no captain had achieved. He was on a level of his own.

However, instead of honoring the suggestions of the teachers to graduate earlier than the others and take the reserved 5th division's captain position, Ichigo decided to postpone this and instead concentrate on graduating along with everyone else. It seemed that the thought of accomplishing something so fast did not sit too well with him. He wanted to be treated normally, just like everyone else. Unfortunately, everyone knew he wasn't like anyone else. Being able to join the ranks of the elite shinigami in his young age was only ever achieved once, and that was by the genius captain Hitsugaya Toushirou. But Ichigo was far more powerful, and his powers were on the brink of maturity – this is what made the difference.

Orihime took one look at Ichigo's scowling face and ran. She covered her blushing face with her hands, unable to notice that her hands were also covered in ink, thus smudging her cheeks, forehead, nose and eyelids with vast amounts of black. Ichigo was always distant from the other students. He only kept the company of a handful of friends namely, Abarai Renji, Sado Yasutora, and Ishida Uryuu. These guys were almost just as popular and talented as he was, with Renji being a very skillful swordsman, attaining shikai at an early level during their stay in the academy. Chad, as many called Sado, was known for his skills in hakuda and his amazing strength. Uryuu was the smartest in their batch, acing every written and oral examination and was reserved a seat in the 12th division, the Technological and Research Bureau of Soul Society. These four people intimidated everyone. The only one outside their circle who interacted with them was Rukia, because she was best friends with Renji. Somehow, she got acquainted with Ichigo too, since they were often seen teasing each other relentlessly.

That's the only time that Orihime had seen Kurosaki Ichigo in a relaxed manner. Only once when she chanced upon the group with Rukia. She had been looking for the small woman but once she found her and saw who was with her, she slinked away.

Well, it's known to her that she had the biggest crush on Kurosaki Ichigo.

His scowl and demeanor should have repelled her, but instead, these traits attracted her. She was an unusual girl. She knew that Ichigo would never notice her. He might remember her as the Unlucky Princess, if he even knew that moniker, or as the ditzy girl in class. She wasn't really popular except for her looks, which seemed to have attracted unwanted attention.

_What's up with that? _Ichigo thought, frowning deeply. He was about to go and return the scrolls and books that her borrowed from the Archive of Spiritual Documents when this girl, who was clearly spacing out, bumped into him with such speed and force that Ichigo did not even see her coming. He was a bit lax in sensing spiritual presence whenever he was preoccupied, so he decided that he should work on that to avoid more accidents.

His scowl ran deeper as he noticed that the girl not only disorganized his stuff, but also managed to get every single one of them splattered with at least two drops of ink. The mess was everywhere, and she did not even bother to help him out. She just ran away with a squeak and a blush.

_What's wrong with all these girls? _He thought once again. The only normal ones he had been acquainted with were Kuchiki Rukia and Arisawa Tatsuki. Rukia was more of a little monster while Tatsuki was more mature and was quite civil. All the other girls seemed to have this unusual and undesired focus towards him. He wasn't that dense and concentrated on studying to not know that many girls had a crush on him, but he just found the notion silly. He had far more important things to worry about, such as his promise to his late parents to follow in their footsteps to become great shinigami.

Kurosaki Isshin and Kurosaki Masaki both perished years ago during the Great War. Both were captain-class shinigamis and were revered by many. Ichigo, their only child, was left alone. He was then brought up and raised by Urahara Kisuke, who became his mentor before he entered in the Seiretei Academy.

He hastily finished fixing up the scrolls and books. Now he had to rewrite the paper he already finished and had to pay a penalty fee to the keeper of the archives. Ise Nanako was not a woman to be messed with.

_Four holy scrolls and three books splattered with ink, _he thought with a groan. He needed to find that young woman so that she could pay him back for the damages.

All he could remember was the girl's long auburn hair and gray eyes. Now that he tried to recall, he briefly chastised himself for even wondering who she was. Out of the a thousand students that went to school here, how could he possibly find that person?

* * *

"What did you do this time, Orihime?" Tatsuki said, rolling her eyes in concern.

Orihime's face was blotched with black, disguising the crimson blush that painted her face. But the way her neck colored was evidence enough that she was in a state of embarrassment.

"What happened to your face?" Rukia asked as she entered their quarters. Each room in the Seiretei Academy Girls' Dormitory housed three residents. Each floor had their 'Supervisor' and the entire dorm had a 'Dorm President.' There was also the matron, a middle-aged sour-looking woman who was an unseated officer of the Gotei 13.

Orihime was lucky enough to be housed in the same room as Rukia and Tatsuki for every year of her stay in the school. If that could even be counted as luck. They all knew that Rukia's brother, Kuchiki Byakuya pulled some strings for his younger sister to be with the company of people she trusted the most, and not just with anyone else.

"I – I… ink… spilled," Orihime sputtered, still covering her face with her hands. "Bumped… into, Ku-ku-ku - !"

"Spit it out!" Rukia demanded.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said loudly with great effort.

"Ohh," Rukia and Tatsuki said in unison. They both know their friend's dilemma. She had been starry-eyed towards Ichigo from the very first time she saw him. It was silly, how much feelings Orihime had for Ichigo, and they did not even know each other properly! Rukia had tried, and failed, so many times in setting up the two. Tatsuki was against the matchmaking, but continuously supported Orihime and offered her sensible advice.

"You truly are hopeless," Rukia said, smirking wide. "If you continue to be this shy and clumsy around _anyone _you won't get a decent man for yourself."

"Why are we even talking about getting decent men, Rukia?" Tatsuki said, sighing. "We're here to study, not to frolic."

"Lighten up a bit, okay, Tatsuki?" Rukia said, patting the spiky-haired girl on the shoulders. "You're already assured a spot in the Gotei 13, so why worry?"

"I am not worried for myself, I'm worried about Orihime," Tatsuki retorted pointedly.

"M-me?" Orihime stammered, finally removing her hands from her face.

"Yes you," Tatsuki said. "Get your head out of the clouds and focus on what you're doing. You're still not sure if you can get in the 4th division. Shun Shun Rikka hasn't developed at all. You must get going if you don't want to be left behind. Stop this Kurosaki nonsense for once."

Orihime knew that her friend was right, but she could not help the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"See, Tatsuki?" Rukia said, going over to Orihime and hugging her. "You can be so harsh to Orihime. Give her a break."

"I'm just telling her the truth," Tatsuki said gently. "Sorry Hime, but you have to protect yourself more."

Orihime nodded and muttered an apology. This was no time to be worried about Kurosaki Ichigo. He had his entire future already mapped out for him. She, on the other hand, had no visions for tomorrow. She was a bit too idealistic for her own good, so usually her plans were out of reach. Out of reality.

* * *

"What happened to you dude?" Renji asked, noticing that Ichigo's permanent scowl was even deeper than usual.

"I had to spend 13,000 Soul Pieces to pay for the damages on the things I borrowed from the archives," the orange head grumbled, letting his body fall face first to his futon.

"Ow, that must've hurt," Renji said to himself as he heard the thud from the futon. "Why was it damaged? There wasn't a speck of dust on it when you left."

"That's exactly it," Ichigo's muffled voice came from the futon. "It was in perfect condition. Not until this girl bumped into me and sent my ink bottle flying towards my things. It was a complete mess. I even had to rewrite my papers for Rokuo-sensei."

Renji shook his head in feigned regret. "Another failed encounter with the female species eh? Why are you so unluckily lucky with women, Ichigo? You have a lot of women tailing you but you don't seem to notice. Tell me, are you gay?"

Before the redhead could even sense anything, a couple of strands of his hair fell out of its place. Ichigo's katana lay a mere inch away from his left eye.

"Woah, calm down dude," Renji said, chuckling. "Was just teasing."

"Wrong time to tease, Abarai," Ichigo growled. "Unless you propose to give me 13,000 then keep your thoughts to yourself."

"When have you been so tight on money? We all know that your parents left you with enough to spend until your next lifetime."

"Well, Kisuke has been tight with money recently. He said I should invest wisely or something," Ichigo explained, rubbing his eyes unconsciously. He almost forgot that he did not get a wink of sleep the previous night. He had been busy, and Renji's snoring kept him awake. Uryuu had also been awake, and kept on clucking his tongue that nearly made him go mad with annoyance.

"Then you should go and hunt this clumsy damsel of yours and get some money out of her," Renji suggested, lounging on the chair. "It's her fault anyway."

"I intend to find her, but as you see Renji there are a thousand students in this academy. Where the hell am I gonna find a girl with long auburn hair and gray eyes," Ichigo complained.

Renji's suggestive expression turned mischievous and pleased. "Well, you don't have to look far. I'm sure that girl is from our class."

Ichigo stared at Renji warily. "No tricks, Renji. Do you know this girl?"

"Of course!" Renji replied in exasperation. "In your absorption with your work, you don't notice the people around you! Tsk. Get a life, Ichigo."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at Renji's laid back comments. "Who?" he insisted.

"The Unlucky Princess," Renji said, his smirk growing wider. "Inoue Orihime."

* * *

**Hehehe, I know that's pretty short, but that's all I have to put in the first chapter of the Academy arc. ;) Just kidding about the arc thing. The whole academy scenario would only be two chapters long, then on to their formal shinigami lives! =)**

**I hope y'all liked it. Please leave a review. (You must all be sick of seeing my name pop out from everywhere in this fan fiction community. I'm sorry, but as I was about to write the 6****th**** chapter for The Front Act, this idea 'vomited' itself out of my brain. My brain is finally out of the gutter, you see, that's why it's been spouting ideas here and there. And I can't resist the urge to write whenever a new idea forms. I have to write it before I lose it.)**

**So there. Enough rambling Annie. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Orihime's Luck

"Where the heck is Orihime?" Tatsuki said with a sigh, her hands on her hips.

Classes in Intermediately Advanced Kidou II had already started fifteen minutes ago. Yoshida-sensei had already finished checking the attendance and had asked Tatsuki where Orihime was. The spiky-haired girl could only shake her head to indicate her cluelessness to her best friend's whereabouts.

"Huh? What did you say, Tatsuki?" Rukia asked, seemingly not listening. For the better part of the class, she had been staring off and giggling silently at a certain red-haired baboon who seemed to be trapping himself in his own binding spells.

Tatsuki hurled her right fist towards Rukia's head – an action that was only missed by centimeters due the midget's honed reflexes. Purple eyes glared at her attacker.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Rukia yelled, earning her the reproving glance of their teacher who was too busy scolding Abarai Renji to even spare the two quarreling girls a part of her negative energy.

"Here I am getting all freakin' sick about where Orihime is, and you just keep gaping at Abarai like a fool!" Tatsuki said with equal intensity. This statement also earned the attention of the man in question, who looked at the squabbling pair in a confused expression.

Rukia turned swiftly away and sent death glares at Tatsuki, her face shining like a tomato. "For once, Tatsuki, mind your own business!"

"If only my friends _are mature _enough to mind their own businesses, then I would mind mine alone, thank you very much!" Tatsuki retorted.

Rukia opened her mouth to say something venomous in return but stopped herself. There was only one thing that could piss Tatsuki off.

"Maybe some guy kidnapped Orihime and did *censored* to her," Rukia said, a long beeping noise appearing out of nowhere to shield the utterance of entirely vulgar things.

Tatsuki turned crimson, making her perfectly acceptable Bakudo No. 81 that was binding a doll tighten considerably.

"Come to think of it, Kurosaki is not here yet," Rukia said in a low drawl. The petite shinigami student knew that Tatsuki was busy having her internal worries when her teacher absentmindedly informed the class in her usual begrudging manner that Kurosaki would be running late due to an honorary meeting with the Squad 1 Vice-Captain, Sasakibe Choujirou.

"I'm going to snap that bastard's – " before Tatsuki could even finish, Kurosaki Ichigo appeared behind Abarai Renji, shocking the daylights out of the already flustered redhead.

"Kurosaki!" Renji whispered furiously.

The orange-haired genius smirked. He received a thump on the shoulder by Renji, who was grumbling something about not helping him and making matters worse as they already are. Ichigo could now see why. _Again, _Renji had trouble performing the Kidou spell they were assigned to learn today.

The young man sighed. He wondered why Renji took this elective course anyway. Those with select permission slips from teachers were the ones allowed to take these classes. In other words, those who have the ability to even perform Kidou spells exceeding the number 60. Hell, Renji couldn't even perform Shakkahou. All he managed to do was make it explode in his face.

_Huh, how did he enter this class anyway? _Ichigo thought, his brows furrowing further.

"Kurosaki," Yoshida-sensei said, stepping towards him. "You're here. That's good, I need a teaching assistant. _Kami-sama, _everyone should be like you. Attending even though they don't have to," she added while rolling her golden eyes, "be kind enough to assist Abarai-san."

Ichigo nodded and turned his smug face towards the fuming Renji. He began to say something between an insult and instruction when a crashing sound was heard from the doorway of their training facility.

A crumpled red and white heap came crashing down the long ladder. (Yes, because Urahara Kisuke was tasked to build most vast training facilities in the institute, that was why most of them were found underground, with an infinite and mysterious source of light, and a space that could leave everyone breathless.)

"Orihime!" Arisawa Tatsuki shouted, running towards her fallen friend.

_Orihime? Where did I hear that before? _Ichigo thought, pondering on the familiarity of the name. He watched with a mixture of pity and amusement as Tatsuki and Rukia rushed towards the girl, who seemed to be twisted in a horridly comical manner (butt way up) and who was not moving an inch.

"Orihime!" Rukia repeated, reaching Orihime first and starting to put the auburn-haired girl in the proper position.

"A-ah… Owwiiee," Orihime was saying, brushing off the strands that blocked her face. "That hurts."

She managed to pull herself to her feet with Rukia's help. However, her other friend was not going to allow her off the hook for another second.

Tatsuki's lightning fast fist landed on her head, making Orihime screech in pain. The clumsy young woman clutched her head, scrunching her eyes as tears came out endlessly.

"You idiot!" Tatsuki bellowed, turning slightly pink from the exertion. "Where have you been? We've been worried sick!"

"Well, _you're _the only one who was worried sick," Rukia interjected with amusement. "You didn't have to go that far Tatsuki, Orihime just fell."

The attacker merely scoffed. "Don't underestimate Orihime's head. And besides, that's not – "

"Arisawa."

A dark and ominous aura suddenly stopped the three. When they turned around, a dark mist and evil aura was surrounding Yoshida-sensei. Her eyes were glowing in a sick manner, her arms stretched out like a horribly dead person, which was kind of ironic.

"I appreciate the fact that you bashed Inoue's head for being late, but if you three keep on disrupting my class every single time you're here, I would do more than just fail you," she said in a low, murderous voice.

The three girls suddenly stood ramrod straight and ran back to their places.

Ichigo watched the whole scene, oblivious to the fact that Renji had stopped making his efforts and was watching alongside him.

"That's the girl you're looking for," he stated plainly.

"Girl?" Ishida Uryuu suddenly said, adjusting his glasses. "So, Kurosaki has finally found his masculinity?"

"Shut it, Ishida," Ichigo snapped. "Stop talking all high and mighty when you haven't got a girlfriend yourself."

Uryuu coughed into his fist, ignoring Ichigo's comeback.

"Who is this girl, Ichigo?" Chad said, also joining in.

"Oh, just this girl who was brave enough to bump into Ichigo and send his borrowed materials completely swimming in ink," Renji narrated helpfully. "She also happened to make him pay _a lot _of money to Ise-san."

Uryuu and Chad winced. They all knew how the librarian could be like towards damaged materials. They were sure Ichigo's mental and financial well-being was scarred after that encounter.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Chad asked once again, eyeing the scowling Ichigo.

"Make her pay, of course," Ichigo said grimly. "But before that, I think we should go back to what we're doing. Yoshida is pissed."

The other three nodded in agreement and proceeded with their training.

* * *

"So," Orihime said enthusiastically, already forgetting the incident from before, "what are we learning?"

Tatsuki frowned at her friend. "Where have you been?" she pressed on again.

Orihime blushed considerably. Rukia snickered, whispering an 'I told you.' This earned her another glare from Tatsuki, who seemed to be wearing out the angered look on her face.

"I got lost," Orihime admitted, blushing to the roots of her hair.

"W-what?" Tatsuki and Rukia said in unison.

Disbelief clouded both of their eyes as Rukia said, "But it's nearly the end of the year, Orihime. How could you possibly get lost in finding a place where you have been for more than a hundred times already?"

"W-well," Orihime stammered, "I was with you guys all those times so I had no problems in finding the place."

The two raven-haired ladies groaned in exasperation. "That's your fault then. When we woke up, you were no longer in bed so we thought you already went ahead," Rukia continued.

"If you were up early, then where have you been all this time?" Tatsuki asked.

"I was on my way to the dining hall," Orihime chirped excitedly.

"Then?"

"I was eating, then I thought of hollows that could disguise themselves as really cute boys. Then I thought, 'What if Tatsuki-chan and Rukia-chan were in love with one of these hollow boys?' I was so worried that I accidentally swallowed the bread whole, then I choked."

Orihime was explaining in rapid fire speed that was astonishing. Her gray eyes were glazed over, lost in her own little world. Tatsuki and Rukia could only stare in bewilderment.

"So, when I was thinking about it, I got lost," Orihime said, her face suddenly crestfallen.

Rukia groaned and turned a cold stare at Tatsuki. "You should start regretting the fact that you even asked. That's what you get."

Tatsuki could not make a sassy retort for this one. She knew that Rukia was right. She merely nodded and proceeded on teaching Orihime the basic understanding and principles behind the binding spell.

* * *

_Hollow bishounen? _

Ichigo nearly tripped as he was teaching Renji for the eleventh time how to do the kidou spell properly when he overheard the conversation Arisawa, Kuchiki, and Inoue were having. Inoue Orihime was definitely a strange girl for even thinking what she just thought. And now he could clearly see why she was called the Unlucky Princess. The girl was too far into her own universe that she couldn't possibly function properly in the real world.

But still, there was no excuse for what she did.

Come to think of it, he knew very little about this girl. Not that he was interested, but he just found out that she was in almost all of his classes. Not even her friends had as much classes with him as she had. And yet, he could not even remember her face.

To satisfy his nagging curiosity, he stole a quick glance towards the Inoue girl.

To his frustration, all he could see was a mass of auburn hair – the color that flashed before him when they collided in that unfortunate accident.

"Ichigo," Renji said, smirking to his face. "Thinking of ways to punish her?"

Ichigo whispered 'bakudo no. 68' without the incantation to bind the annoying Renji. It was his turn to smirk as the baboon struggled to free himself.

"Stop that you two!" Yoshida-sensei barked from over Karino and Hanabishi.

Ichigo grudgingly released Renji, who whispered curses at him.

"I wonder why you're so easily annoyed," Renji continued. "One does wonder what you want to do with Inoue. She's the hottest girl in our year. Possibly the whole school."

"Huh?" Ichigo said in confusion. From what he could make out, he couldn't see anything remotely noticeable about her. Except maybe the odd way she thinks and acts.

Renji just grimaced and let the matter pass. It was better to be quiet than convince Kurosaki Ichigo to notice even one human from the female species on a remotely 'attractive' level.

"You know Abarai, you should stop concentrating on doing the impossible," Uryuu said. "Making Kurosaki notice any woman is as impossible as you learning kidou."

And with that, Ishida Uryuu endured the entire class with broken eyeglasses and a bleeding nose.

* * *

"That was exhausting," Orihime complained, moving to sit on a flat rock inside the training facility. Luckily for them, this was the only class for today. The entire afternoon and evening classes were cancelled for the annual Seiretei institution ball.

"You shouldn't complain," Rukia grimaced, plopping ungracefully on the ground before Orihime. "You missed almost twenty-five minutes of the class."

"Yes, but Yoshida-sensei made me make up for it! She added an extra spell for me to learn!"

"Serves you right," Tatsuki said, sitting beside Rukia.

Some of the girls have already left the grounds. Others were left chattering amongst themselves about how excited they were for the ball. The lazier boys were off to enjoy the hot spring that was built inside every underground facility.

"Was Bakudo No. 84 supposed to look like a dog?" Orihime asked worriedly, wondering if their sensei failed her for the extra work she did.

Before Rukia and Tatsuki could make a frustrated answer, they were silenced by a couple of figures walking over to them.

Orihime looked at her friends, waiting for an answer. Her expectant eyes turned confused when both of her friends' eyes suddenly focused far from her. Tatsuki had her eyebrows raised while Rukia was turning a bit pink. Both of them, however, had the same expression of disbelief and mirth hidden within those faces.

"Yo," a rough voice said.

Orihime nearly jumped and landed ungracefully beside Rukia and Tatsuki. She whirled around to see a grinning Abarai Renji. With him were an expressionless Ishida Uryuu, a gently smiling Yasutora Chad, and a scowling Kurosaki Ichigo.

And for some reason, Kurosaki Ichigo had his sharp gaze on her.

Orihime blanched, then blushed. Red crept from the base of her neck towards her hairline.

"You all look silly," Uryuu commented. "Well, except Arisawa-san."

Tatsuki stood up, grinning evilly at Uryuu. "Says the one with the bleeding nose."

Uryuu ignored the statement, looking away.

"Ehem," Renji said, clearing his throat in a fake manner that made Tatsuki's eyebrows twitch in annoyance, "we're just here to talk to Inoue-san."

Rukia then stood up, followed by a trembling Orihime. "M-me?" Orihime stuttered, her eyes wide.

"Yeah," Renji said.

By now, whispers from the other girls in the room could be heard. They were wondering why the most popular guys in their school were talking to the three girls. Some were curious and most of them were shooting jealous glares at them.

"Well, actually, Ichigo here wants to talk to you," the redhead finished.

Orihime felt faint. _Is this a dream? _She said, as she stumbled forward and suddenly envisioned Kurosaki Ichigo in an elegant and princely kimono, extending his hand to take her to his fortress.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki said, nudging her forward and waking her from her imaginations.

"A-ah," was all Orihime could say. She felt her heart pounding in her ears and her head spinning when the man of her dreams confidently stepped towards her. The unapproachable aura he had around him made him more attractive for her, and she suppressed a sigh that nearly escaped her lips.

_Why is she looking at me like that? _Ichigo thought, a bit baffled and scared. It was as though she were a child looking at a piece of rare candy for her birthday. For a moment there, all his prejudice against her seemed to lessen when he finally saw what Renji meant about her being the 'hottest' girl. She was indeed prettier than most girls. Her auburn hair was as unusual a color as his was, and it seemed to float gracefully around her. Her wide, gray eyes were expressive, her long lashes and delicate eyebrows pronouncing them more. Her lips were pink even without those things that girls usually put on. Her entire body was also what Renji would say a 'knock-out'.

But to say that he liked those things? He didn't know. And her redeemed image in his mind crumbled swiftly away when she blushed, stammered and looked at him in a strange way. Those were one of the things why he had neutral or bad feelings towards girls. They were always like this.

"You," he began, sounding ruder than he wanted to, or thought of, "owe me money."

"What?" Rukia and Tatsuki said together.

_What? _Orihime thought. This was hardly the first encounter she had always fantasized about. She had imagined that their first encounter would be started with sentences like, 'I've always liked you, Inoue-san,' or 'Will you go out with me?'. But now here she was, standing before the boy she admired for so long, being asked for money.

"What are you talking about Kurosaki?" Tatsuki asked with a threatening look.

Renji grimaced. "You have a really bad way of explaining yourself, Ichigo."

Ichigo ignored Renji and plowed on as he saw fit. "The other day when you were running, you bumped into me," he said, attempting to clear the confusion in the girl's eyes. "I borrowed a lot of stuff from the Archives and they were all botched with ink. I had to pay 13,000 Soul Pieces."

_I knew it, _Rukia thought with exasperation. There was only one possible reason why Ichigo would suddenly talk to Orihime like this. And she couldn't blame him. Being under the wrath of that horrible librarian and paying that much money was certainly worth the trouble of approaching someone you don't know and asking them to pay you back.

_From what Orihime told us, it __**was **__indeed her fault, _Tatsuki mused. She mentally rolled her eyes at the pickle Orihime found herself in once again. She honestly did not know if she felt sorry for the girl or would just remain silent about this.

Orihime, if even possible, turned redder than before. "I-I'm sorry," she said, her voice almost inaudible. "I don't have the money."

"Huh?" Ichigo said, a dawning expression of annoyance showing on his face.

"GOMEN!" Orihime frantically half-screamed, bowing deeply for about four times. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry I messed up your books and scrolls. I promise to pay you back but it will take some time. I only have 5,200 Soul Pieces as my entire allowance. I will give it to you as soon as – "

"Forget it," Ichigo said, turning and walking away.

Chad and Uryuu looked sympathetically towards the girl and walked away with their friend. Renji, who remained for a few seconds because of uncertainty, abruptly asked Rukia to be his partner for the dance. Only the petite student had a reason to be happy after the encounter.

_No way… _was all Orihime could think of. She felt so ashamed and so sad. She had embarrassed herself in front of the person she had wanted to impress since she started liking him. What's more, the attention she craved for had come to her in a negative way. Kurosaki Ichigo definitely _knew _her now. She made him mad.

Tatsuki could only sigh and shake her head at the ashen expression Orihime was wearing. She made a mental note to give Kurosaki a piece of her mind when she saw him again. However, it seemed the most appropriate method of action at this time, even though it was brash. She knew for a fact that people like him wouldn't bother much and would also put others into consideration, even if it did not show. He might appear like a cold bastard on the outside but Tatsuki could see more than that.

And apparently, Orihime also saw that. She only had a different and entirely new level of admiring that hidden good side, even going as far as liking the bad side.

* * *

"I think you just left that girl traumatized," Uryuu commented, doing his usual habit of adjusting his extra piece of eyewear that he just pulled out of nowhere.

"Tch."

"Just the answer we expect from you," Renji said, smirking without mirth. "You truly are useless, Ichigo."

"What else did you want me to do?" Ichigo growled as he walked faster to avoid the awed and struck gazes by the student body as the foursome passed by. "Humiliate her further by pressing the issue?"

"Oh so you care?" Renji said with amusement.

Ichigo shot him a cold look. "Shut up and leave me alone."

"You know we can't leave you alone," Renji said. "Especially today."

"And why is that?"

"The ball, Ichigo," Chad informed him.

"We should stick together," Uryuu said in a conspiratorial manner. "You should _never _leave our sight."

"Tch," Ichigo said for the umpteenth time. "I don't need your protection. I won't be going anyway."

"But – " Renji started to say but was immediately cut off by Ichigo's glare.

Ichigo started walking faster than the rest of the guys when he spotted a group of giggling girls pushing each other rapidly towards him. All it took was one alarmed gaze at his guffawing friends as he quickly flash-stepped out of the scene.

"And we just told him," Renji said, shaking his head.

"You know he doesn't listen to anyone," Uryuu quipped, his lips morphing to a thin line. "So, you're going with Kuchiki Rukia?"

Renji nodded proudly. "I promised Kuchiki-sama that I would look after her."

"Ever the guard dog," Uryuu mused, rolling his eyes at the reference to Kuchiki Byakuya. The man may be strong, but he didn't exactly earn a good impression to other people, especially towards their friend, Ichigo.

"And what do you mean by that?" Renji spat.

"I thought you liked her," Chad suddenly said.

"W-what? Of course not! We _are _best friends," Renji denied. His other two friends could only shake their heads as to how unbelievably dense Abarai was. But they decided to not meddle and to let the matter pass.

"How about you, Chad?" Uryuu asked.

"I'm not attending," the giant plainly said. "I was assigned on lookout duty tonight. I need the extra money and credits for Minomiya-sensei."

Renji frowned. "That's boring, Chad. But I guess you have no choice for that matter. Those things are far more important after all."

"And I think you can go join in when your security duties are over?" Uryuu added.

Chad nodded.

"Do you think we should still stick together?" Renji asked, a hint of slyness behind his grin.

"Shut up, Abarai," Uryuu said, throwing a piece of crumpled paper to Renji's face before flash-stepping out of the scene as well.

"Cha – " the redhead began to say, but Chad was already gone.

_And there goes my protection from girls, _Renji thought grumpily. Certainly, his friends had nothing to worry about since they knew that only Ichigo had a real problem with girls. And Uryuu and Chad also knew that no one would dare to approach Renji.

* * *

Orihime was overwhelmed by a dark storm cloud the whole day. There was absolutely nothing that could lift her spirits up. She had managed to humiliate herself six feet under Soul Society in front of the man she had admired for so long. She had also managed to trouble him. To add insult to injury, she also had a debt that he seemed to be so annoyed with that he just brushed it off.

She had unintentionally dismissed Tatsuki and Rukia from wanting to be with her. She had immediately curled up into a ball on her bed while the raven-haired duo left her to her own devices. They figured she needed more time to herself.

_But what was a girl to do when all she can ever manage to make out of her life was failure?_

_

* * *

_

**I know it's a huge cliffie, but it's part of it. You guys will see. Please be patient. The third chapter is under construction. ;) Please leave a review.**


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